Rip-off capital?

It's good to know that Dumaguete has once again grabbed the recognition of topping the realty tax collection efforts in Central Visayas . This is an achievement that speaks highly of the City's financial capability as well as the professionalism of the people who are assigned to collect taxes. There are other things that make Dumaguete proud. Dumaguete also has the best police station in Central Visayas , which became a finalist in the search for Most Oustanding City Police Station in the country. It also is considered the Motorcycle capital of the country because of the fact that the

motorcycle dealer here was adjudged as the number one dealer throughout the country for several consecutive years.

But there are things that are pulling Dumaguete down. People could probably forgive the city for its polluted boulevard, whose waters are not even fit for swimming. Dumaguete's traffic problem and parking problem could be viewed as a problem associated with growth, even though the City is violating its own Ordinance by allowing tricycles and multicabs going to Sibulan, Bacong and other outlying city barangays to utilize city streets as terminals.

I looked up Dumaguete on the internet and I found that some foreign visitors have listed down their impressions of Dumaguete. One of them described the city as the rip-off capital of the region! This is because of his experience with tricycle or rent-a-car drivers who try to make the most from visitors, especially foreigners, who arrive at our ports. He said that P50 is a normal charge of these tricycle drivers who solicit for rides at the pier or the airport.

How I wish our city officials would say that this is not happening in Dumaguete. But on the other hand, I don't think they truthfully can. I have taken those overnight boats from Cebu and arrived in Dumaguete at 2 or 3 a.m. , when the City is literally asleep. Whenever I flag down a tricycle, the standard question they would ask is, "pila'y hatag nimo (how much are you giving)?" If you say an amount that they deem too low, they just zoom away without even telling you a word.

That's how arrogant these tricycle drivers have become. There's no one to complain to at that unholy hour. It's every man for himself.

This unchecked abuse of overpricing tricycle drivers has to stop, if ever we want to make Dumaguete the tourist-friendly city that we have always dreamed of. We want the tourist dollars but we don't really do our part to ensure that they get a good first impression.

Why doesn't the City assign public utility dispatchers at the pier area to inform incoming passengers of the standard fare rates of tricycles and rental cars? These dispatchers would give passengers a piece of paper with the information they need about Dumaguete, along with the name of the tricycle driver and the number of the sidecar and the amount the passengers should pay so that it would be easy to file a complaint should they be abused.

If there are no tricycles around to take the passengers to their destinations, the government should be ready to drive these passengers home, as a last resort, just so they won't be overcharged.

If this is too much for the government to handle, all it has to do is to "close" the city and tell the boat companies not to arrive here at such unholy hours.

But if the City allows boats to arrive here in the wee hours of dawn, it must assume responsibility for the conduct of the public utility drivers whom they accredited--not tomorrow, not when offices open later on, but on the spot. If every one of those victimized by unscrupulous public utility drivers writes a blog about his experience, the resulting publicity would be enough to scare away any potential visitor, or investor.

So, how about it, guys?*

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